Incendiary projectile



t To' all ywhomrrz't may concern? ,i j f Beit 'known that '15,2' GEORGE citizen; ofthe 'United States; fi residing at Quantico, 'in 'the county of lDrince William" Llff Plissffa andfStat'e of Virginia; have 'invented-` cer? tain new 5 and'A "useful-f Improvements Qin Inl: j. Acediary`Project-ilesg -andfl4 doV hereby' "dejv i5clare`fthe following to be ayfull;V clear, yand V'4' ez'at description of the'i Vsame; reference t being* hadlto thel accompanying-1 drawing,

-form'ingpart of,v this specitication.'jev

i" jectiles' and'lhaslfriits principal'objectf'the'- ,frornthe rlorfoj'ectile'fat'a given elevationor prov'isioir-'ofa projectile'havingjvithinfit a p'ljt'iralitj'f"j'ofV A`tofrfc'le's which jare discharged kconstructed ast'olfernbed'fin the;Y 'woodwork ortextil'e coveringoftth'jairplane; y. v A further object 'of 'the presentinven-l "tion is 'the-'f provision# jof .a tank in the `prov jectileV containing a quantity of infiamma' j ble gas under pressure preferably liquefied, "which tank isburst Vsubsequently* to' theL f discharge ofthe Vflying torches. v

y @invention pertain particularly to the de-V Other andl further ob'ects of the ypresent n tails of construction and will bel particular- 3Q ly pointed out in the claims.

, In the drawings, Y Y

Figure 1 is a sectional view throughthe projectile.

" Fig. V2 is a transverse cross section.

v and also avplurality ofbores such as 12 -A which are arranged inthe `form of a cylin-` der lying near the fouter surface. of the- Shell.

These cylindricalqboresare of such jsizel asto vfit thetorche's 15 and each comi v muni'cates at'the forward end of the Vpro-r v 'njectile, with one of the seriesl of holes 16,

if y.b'estjseenin Fig. 1;

A. fusel 17, preferably of the time type,l

each of theboresysome ofwhifch, as'previy. `-ously noted, are: parallel to the axis while others are at :im-anglethereto,l the `former @1.112'1LIASS br: @Arrire Y INCENDAYMJEGMLE@ 'argumentiert settember ig'laaagfspiaiNb.'e59,59eif f discharging vtljietorche's in'the samedirecf`- thin cylinderA 25 Vand" isfjperforatedifa .lati 26Y airplane in the usual manner, the .timefuse n plane.

"communicates with the central 'passagewayxY Y w20 which has a number of branches such head 31 will embedin the wood holdingthe 1,1. '-5 las 21,722, etc., leading to the 'rear ends'of VVThe incendiary compositionmaylbe lof any tion/jas theftravelofith'e'` ,shellQwhilet-he' A' bores which Vare atf an vangleM-causeljthe" torches therein to depart from the pathoff g thev project-ile'y f 'and hence the area vcoveredf??V 'Y by' all-'of the torches is materiallyv 'great than' 'if'the {torchesfwere all discharged" asubstantially aXialfdirectionL*Q1 l n 1 Y,

Y Each ofthe torchesfcon'sists in relativelyfv 1 flames 4'may pass-throughthe openings f as vto burnthe objectr with'which.theltorch f Y maycome in contacti'Inthefcenterffofthe`'y Y torch 'I provide 21V-small'fpa'ssagewayf v `f which op'eratesia smallgredf29 springpres'sd y f r tween'the'steel'fspearfftat ,the`fc` rwafdrendij',V y :j thereof and the roundedknose32jof thetorch'. f Y At its rear end-the rod 29has a smal'l'hookjV I j 33 which normally holds the latch 34' which-801 l when freed operates underiniluencefofjthe j spring 36 to release the arms37so'th'at the, ff latter vmay spring outward and assumejfa position at a right angle to the .axisof'the "jj, rod and torch. f' 85 Y The operation Aof the device is as follows; The shell or projectile is dischargedaty an' 17 being'set for the proper numberoff seconds so that the torcheswill be discharged just before the projectile reaches the air'` When the fusey 17 functions the t powder in the central passageway will 'be ignited burning back to the branches 21, 22, f etc., which may be Aarranged as desired' to V9.5 discharge the torches simultaneously'or one after the other in rapid sequence, those i torches lying nearest the surface of theprojectiledischarging lin :substantial-lyythe' di-v 'j rectionof the flight ofthe shell lwhile the ,100 i v torches in those `bores angularly arrange'd'ff` withV respect t'o 'the axis `of the shell'iare discharged outward in conicalfashion; i f `1 Y @Should a torch strike ag'ainstqthev woodg, ff work ofthe airplane the small sharpspearloff torchsothat the incendiary contents'may ignite the airplane-and` therebydisablez'it. Y,

desiredtype and should preferably be rather 110.

slow burning in order that the torch may have a comparatively long length of life.

Contact of the spear head 3l with the'wood kof the airplane or even With a thin light member such as the cloth covering of the wings pushes it baclrWardly with respectto the torch against the tension of the very light spring 3() `and releases the arms37 so that the latter open radially preventing the passage of the torch through the Wings and holding the torch in such position that' the flames coming through the holes 26 Will ignite any combustible 'part of the airplane Withinrreach of such flames. If desired there may be but a single arm, but I prefer to use three such arms spaced at an angle of" 120 to each other as by usingthis number the arms may be materially lighter than if buta single arinis used;

After the torches have all been discharged the burst-ing chargel 4-0 is ignited disrupting theshell and' releasing its charge of inflammable gas underfpressure so as to further' the shell upon impact of the shell with the obstruction. j j

v2. An incendiary projectile consisting of a shell having a plurality of bores therein, a smaller caliber projectile in each bore, normally inoperative means Carried by each projectile for preventing its through-passage through an obstruction and mechanism operable upon impact with the obstruction for rendering said means operative.

3. An incendiary projectile' consisting of av shell having a plurality of bores therein adapted to receive'a smaller caliber projectile, aplurality of smaller caliber projectiles in each of said bores,Y ajslot in each projectile, means normally Within eachfsubcaliber projectile for' preventing its through-'passage through an obstruction, and mechanism operable upon impact with the obstruction `for projecting said means through the slot in the projectile.

4. An incendiary projectile consisting in a shell vhaving a plurality of holes inthe surface thereof, an incendiary compound rWithin said shell,V a plurality of arms piv.-

otally mounted in said shell and adapted to move from a position parallel to the aXis to a position radial thereto, means for holding saidv means in a position parallel tothe axis, and means extendingforwardly of the shell for releasing said' arms.

GEORGE L. Pass. 

